Five weeks after the 24 Hours Nürburgring Nordschleife, the Nürburgring-Nordschleife season is picking back up, the third VLN race of the season is slated for this coming Saturday. Because of the parallel events of the ADAC GT Masters in Spa Francorchamps and the Blancpain Endurance Series in Paul Riccard, the head of the field is somewhat weakened. 142 starter still promise to make the 57th ADAC ACAS H&R Cup an exciting race.
In the SP9 class, for vehicles build to the FIA GT3 regulations, only four cars are entered. Walkenhorst Motorsport has entered its two BMW Z4 GT3, with the lead car to be shared by Felipe Fernandes Laser, Michela Cerruti and Jesse Krohn. This trio will definitely find itself in contention for an overall victory. The sister car will be driven by Anders Buchardt, Matias Henkola and David Schiwietz. The Frikadelli Racing Team returns with his rebuild Porsche 911 GT3 R, making them one of the favorites. As a driver line up they’ve entered Sabine Schmitz, Klaus Abbelen and Patrick Huisman. The last vehicle in the SP9 is the 911 of Manthey Racing with drivers Harald Schlotter and Otto Klohs.
The overall winner, however, could also come from a different class of VLN Specials. Very good cards can also be attributed to the crew of the Wochenspiegel Team Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, where Georg Weiss, Jochen Krumbach and Oliver Kainz will share the cockpit. Also their sister car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with MR Christoph Breuer and Michael Christensen is certainly a candidate for a top ranking. From the class of the Porsche Carrera Cup cars Adam Osieka / Steve Jans (GetSpeed Performance) and Marc Hennerici / Christian Menzel (Race union Teichmann Racing) could surprise and finish on the podium.
With so few top cars entered we might also find our DSC columnist George Richardson finish well inside the Top 10. Richardson will share the Ferrari 458 with Maximilian Sandritter and Stephan Kuhs in the SP8 class (above), where an additional Ferrari 458, a Lexus ISF CCS-R and an Audi R8 have been entered.
Not entered is the new Lexus RC F GT3, originally Farnbacher Racing and Emil Frey Racing planned their race debut for this weekend’s race. However, since the test program is still on going, the RC-R GT3 will now make its debut at the fourth round of the season. Farnbacher Racing attended Friday’s test session with their Lexus to gather further data with the car.
Soren Herweg
